Amy's Bread example essay topic

Amy's Bread was founded in 1992, served about 50 wholesale customers in Manhattan. (25-1). Amy's Bread was located in a highly competitive business area, but this did stop her from pursing her passion and doing what she loved, bake! She always had ideas and dreams of opening her own bakery. But only one thing stood in her way after her bakery was opened. Demand!

There was high demand and she could not do what she truly wanted because of space. She needed a larger place or a different technique to fill her demands. She had to much needs and needed to accept them if she wanted to go highly large. As with any company or business, there are many strengths and weaknesses.

I think one of her main strengths is her background. Her parents both belonged to the same industry gap. In a way. Her dad was an executive for Pillsbury and her mom a gourmet cook. She graduated with a degree in economics and psychology and then moved to NY to test out the horizons. She did not like the typical white color job and wanted to do more, open her own business.

So she decided to attend the NY Restaurant School for culinary training. After graduation, she got her hands on a job at one of NY's top French Restaurants. A while later, she left to Europe in search of something different. She eventually settled in France and worked at 3 different bakeries.

When returning to NY she was filled with excitement of new ideas and creations and about opening up her own bakery. (25-2) Opening a bakery in NY was going to be very challenging because of the extremely challenging area. It was a highly competitive industry and you can get crushed. It was also very expensive and getting a loan in NEVER easy. But she never gave up. She had so much stamina, and kept going for her goal.

Everyone should admire that. She was quoted in saying: " I wanted to be famous for making a great product and for creating a good place to work I did not care a lot about being rich, I just wanted to sell beautiful breaks from a cute, cozy place". (25-2) Then, in 1992, it all happened. It all began to come together. She did it.

She finally found an affordable place located in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, NY on Ninth Avenue. With only 650 square ft, it was still expensive. NY is expensive regardless. After that, it took her 6 month to renovate, install equipment, hire and train staff, develop a customer list and begin production.

(25-3) Amy recalls how the turnover was very low". The first year was by fa the toughest. We learned to handle dough in stifling hot weather. We had to keep going on only a few hours of sleep a day and get by with out money when our customers were slow to pay. Our space was so narrow and cramped that we struggled to get racks of dough through it.

However, sales were good, and sometimes all the bread was sold by noon!" (25-3) So you see, there is some good some bad. Not all bad. Amy's Bread had several competitors. Ones that were close to home were Tom Cat Bakery in Queens, Ecce Pan is, and Eli's Bread. They were all larger than Amy's Bread and well established. (25-5) These bakeries tended to be more mechanized than Amy's Bread utilizing equipment for dough shaping and baking.

But this is what Amy had to say. "The keys to getting and maintaining wholesale customers are innovative and consistently high-quality bread. One of the ways I ensure high quality is by the hand shaping and individual baking of the bread. The retail customers also want consistent quality, but they are looking for convenient locations and prompt service too.

I don't focus on what my competitors charge. Occasionally I see their price lists, but I basically charge what I feel I mist to cover my expenses and overhead. In fact, many of our prices have not changed since we first opened business". (25-5) This was a business that was oriented towards their own personally satisfaction and customer satisfaction. They did not want to overcharge someone because they were happy they had a chance to show someone what they are capable of. Baking bread.

Bringing customer needs. In December 1992, she opened up an adjoining space. It was not easy at first, but it had to be done. By January, she was in full production.

(25-6) Now it was time for Amy to make a decision. Expand or stand pat? She was looking for space of about 3,000 to 4,000 square feet and she ended up finding a 6,000 square foot building. Her savings were not enough to cover the expense, the bank agreed to give her a loan of $150,000. But the building needed about $300,000 in order to get it right and running correctly. Amy could take the space and try to get personal loans.

She can do it, she did it before. She has to think about the future, since her bread needs are expanding, she needs somewhere to expand to in order for business to pick up. The wholesale expansion is a good idea. It can help the bakery become more profitable in time. But it does take time and she knows that. Another alternative would be to stay where she was at.

She can stay there and save up more for future expansion. Maybe she will expand to somewhere where there is high business and she can continue on her road to success. Taking it a step at a time is not wrong. It has to be the right time.

A third alternative would be to expand to a larger building, in a desirable area and do retail and wholesale. This would be the best alternative because you are pursing to needs and this shows to separate incomes. I believe it would be the best way to go because when providing your services to wholesale and retail, you are definitely going to have a larger intake. Amy's bread seems to be very successful in this short period of time, so I am pretty sure whichever alternative she chooses, there will be many obstacle ahead, but she can overcome them. It takes time and patience. And remember patience is a virtue..